The Sacred Lot Cards
by bekeyboo
Summary: When Dessa Baracson thought life couldn't get any worse, of course it did. Follow her on an extraordinary quest with her... friends. Off haitus.
1. Chapter 1

**The Sacred Lot-Cards Chapter 1:**

With a sigh, Dessa Baracson schlepped her heavy books to her already-becoming-usual table. Her best friend from elementary school was there too, Raya Henrichsen. Dessa threw down her books on the table and pulled a lunchbox out of her fraying Eco-Chic sack.

Raya looked up from her book and said, "Hey," to her agitated best friend. They had met in early elementary school when Dessa had the color crayon Raya wanted. Raya went over and coaxed it out of Dessa's hand by distracting her with another crayon. This snakelike way about Raya caught her up in a big fight with a girl named Jessica in fifth grade, leaving Raya pretty much universally disliked. No one wanted to cross Jessica, not even then in the sixth grade.

Dessa growled, "Why do I have to carry all these books anyway? Why can't my locker be in some normal place, like, oh, I don't know, not the farthest one away in the least-used wing?" She pulled out a squashed PB&J and took an angry bite.

Her best friend sighed. "I've got the one on the far side of yours. I feel your pain." Dessa looked at Raya's feet and noticed the heavy bag there.

"Sorry, Ray," Dessa said while stretching her arms back, accidentally hitting a popular guy named Silenus on the back. "Oh, sorry Silenus!"

He looked at her for a second. "Wait, do I know you?"

Raya's dark eyes flared, "Why, no, Mr. Too-Cool-To-Care, she only has six out of seven classes with you! Why would you know her?"

Dessa watched his retreating back and watched as he sat down at the cool table- right in front of the doors to the exit. You'll never guess where the girls' table was… that's right, the opposite corner of the cafeteria. Dessa saw him say something, glance at them, and have everyone else laugh loudly at his joke.

"Ray," Dessa complained, "You coulda been a little nicer to the guy!"

Raya laughed. "You want people to like you, Dess?" Dessa nodded. "Then say something to someone other than me once in awhile. No one likes me because I'm honest. No one likes you because no one knows you. Get over your sociophobia, already!"

A less likely pair couldn't be found. When they were both five, they both had brown hair and brown eyes. But, while Dessa lightened, Raya darkened. While Dessa was the kind of girl who, in social situations, was the epitome of a deer in headlights, Raya thrived on confrontation. She listened to weird music, watched indie-hipster movies, and wore far too much eyeliner for a twelve-year old girl. Dessa was too afraid of what anyone would say to do anything but follow fashion trends and be normal. The only weird thing Dessa did was crop her hair in a pixie-style, and even that she didn't cut religiously like

Raya did her identical style.

After a normal lunch about arguing the evils of American Eagle, the bell rang and everyone raced off totheir fifth period.

One of the problems with the whole cool-kids-closer-to-the-door-geeks-in-the-back plan was that the coolest kids were the ones who were continually tardy. Therefore, they created a slow-moving roadblock on the way to most of the classes.

Consequently, Dessa walked in as the bell was ringing for fifth period to start. Ordinarily, the kids would stare at the late kid until they sat down, sometimes teasing the kid on their 'cool tardy', because in sixth grade being late was the coolest thing anyone could do, but not for Dessa. When everyone eagerly looked at the doorjamb to see who was late, they quickly looked away. No one knew Dessa save Raya, and no one really wanted to. And no one cared.

Dessa thrived on being ignored the same way her best friend loved being in a verbal battle to the death with the annoying popular kids.

Dessa endured the rest of the school day, and read the whole bus ride home. She yelled, "Bye, Lacey!" to the bus driver, and the bus driver, Lacey, waved good-bye to Dessa's retreating back.

Step One of Middle School Success (and the only one Dessa could bring herself to do) was to get on good terms with the bus driver. They drop you off in front of your house, like Lacey did for Dessa every day. Dessa pulled her house key out of her cluttered bag, and slowly opened the door, feet together and looking in front of the door. Sure enough, a shadow named Jellybean tried to slink outside. Dessa was too quick for him, though, scooping the cat up into her arms as she threw down her school supplies in a heap.

"Da-ad?" she called. The only reply was an echo. I should really stop getting my hopes up, Dessa thought as she shut the door and released her cat. Her father always worked long hours, but never this long. He was offered a promotion a few months ago, giving the father and daughter more money, but keeping him away from home.

Dessa collapsed on the couch, pulling a novel off the table off the end. Just as she sighed, settled deeper into the couch, and opened the book, the doorbell rang. Annoyed, Dessa stalked over to the door and opened it, Jellybean in her hands. Jellybean was an escape artist, and had managed to dart through legs of those coming and going on more than one occasion. Dessa had jokingly created a small blackboard that said, "_ days from Jellybean's last escape!" There was currently a number five on the board.

"Hello," Silenus blurted, "I need to talk to you, Dessa." Dessa raised a single eyebrow without affecting the rest of her face, a trick she perfected after one long summer involving a mirror and shock therapy. This guy forgets my name after six lessons, then randomly appears at my doorstep needing to talk to me? Dessa thought. After a second, she pulled the door open wider and took one step to the side, allowing Silenus to enter her house.

After he stopped at the front entryway politely, she sat down on the couch sideways and looked at him expectantly. He sat on her feet. "There's this thing, Dessa," he said, without further preamble, "I go to this cabin on the weekends during the school year, you wanna come?"

Dessa performed her raise an eye-brow trick, but with the other eyebrow, which involved another summer of mirrors and shock therapy. "You don't like me," she stated.

Silenus looked at her, and then at the cat she was still holding in her arms to mumble, "Naw."

Dessa allowed her other eyebrow to join its partner. "Well then you don't care about me. Worse. Why are you offering me this?"

"Well," Silenus drawled, "It's not really a cabin… it's a… camp. For ADHD or dyslexic kids. It's… therapy. I thought you could, y'know, come…"

Dessa's eyebrows dropped while her eyes widened. "It helps ADHD and dyslexia?"

"Yes."

"And you're not messing with me?"

"No, no jokes."

"Kay," Dessa said, "I'll do it." Silenus broke out into a wide smile, raising his eyes so he looked Dessa in the eyes for the first time in awhile.

"Awesome," he said, shaking his hands with a thumb and pinky out. Dessa assumed that this was some inside joke that she didn't need to know.

As she dismissed him from her home, keeping a watchful eye on Jellybean, she was focusing on keeping her excitement down. Dessa just wanted to blend in and be absolutely normal, and her ADHD/dyslexia prevented that from happening. Could Silenus really help her?

**Interesting? Not? R&R, please.**

**xoxo,  
bekeyboo ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 2:**

Dessa rose at dawn and anxiously looked at her reflection in the mirror in her room. Were the curls overkill? She didn't know. She fussed with her fitted T-shirt, resettled her shorts on her hips, and was in the process of re-curling all of her hair when the doorbell rang.

Flustered, Dessa rushed to the door, stumbling down the last step just after her father had opened the door. He was about to go to work, but Silenus had come early.

"Hello," Silenus introduced himself politely, "My name is Silenus. I'm here to pick up Dessa for the ADHD/dyslexia camp?"

Mr. Baracson, who's name happened to be David, said, "Oh, yeah, that. Kay. Um, this is in New York, right?"

"Yessir," Silenus replied promptly.

"Just checking," Mr. Baracson replied before turning to his daughter. "You all set, Dess?" She nodded. "You have your toothbrush?" Dessa nodded again, more anxiously. "Money in case something goes wrong?"

Dessa put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm fine, Daddy. Go to work." Mr. Baracson's eyes softened as he gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead.

"You have a great time, Dess," he said, his brown eyes boring into hers.

She smiled broadly, causing her dad to grin. "I will." He towed her into a hug, giving her one more kiss on her forehead before entering his beaten old Honda Civic and driving away.

Dessa turned to Silenus. "I gotta get my stuff. It's upstairs."

"Cool," Silenus said. "I'll chill out here." Dessa gave him a slow nod before bolting upstairs to grab her tote. It had toiletries, clothes, and her iPod full of music introduced to her by Raya. When she tore back down the stairs, Silenus was crouched on the floor, stroking Jellybean.

"Your cat acts like a dog," he said, rubbing Jellybean behind her ears. Dessa narrowed her eyes curiously at her cat.

"Jellybean," Dessa said, picking up her cat and cradling her in her arms, "You never act like that." Shrugging, Dessa threw Jellybean into a carrier with some food and picked up her litterbox kit. "I'm ready to go," she told Silenus.

She had her tote of necessities thrown over her shoulder, held a cat carrier under one arm, and held a bag of supplies for her cat with the other. Silenus choked back giggles as he led her to his father's car.

She threw her stuff in the trunk of the hybrid car and jumped in the backseat.

"Hey there, Dessa. I'm Silenus' dad, Mr. Underwood. It's a couple hours away, and you'll stay for the weekend," the driver said. Silenus sat shotgun, so Dessa stretched out in the backseat and fell asleep.

Next thing she knew, Silenus was shaking her awake at the base of a hill. "Come on, Dessa. We're here."

Dessa glanced around apprehensively, anywhere but up at the tree they skirted. There was a big python around it, and that freaked Dessa out to the point where they had to go around.

She looked down on what looked like a summer camp in September. There was a volleyball court, coated with auburn leaves dead ahead, flanked a pair of big, Greek-looking houses, one splattered with paint. She could see a creek peeking out from behind some hills beyond that, but past that was too distant for her to see properly. Silenus led her to the bigger Greek-looking house, directly into a mini- movie theater.

"Dessa, this is the orientation film. Once it ends in about twenty minutes, go to the main room we passed through to get here, and there will be someone to collect you and explain more," Silenus instructed her. Dessa sat as Silenus left and the lights dimmed.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Whatever you have been told, this is a camp for people who aren't normal," a calm male voice narrated. There were cutesy little cartoons illustrating the calm guy's narration. Dessa closed her eyes and just listened. "You're special. This camp is for children of the gods. Yes, the Greek gods are real and have moved their base from Greece to America…" Dessa's eyes snapped open. Greek gods? In reality? What? Dessa thought. She tuned back into the documentary. "I know a lot of you probably tuned out and went into shock. That's okay. One sign of a half god, also known as a demigod or a half-blood, is ADHD and dyslexia.

"Here at camp, you will be taught to control the monsters in your life. If you have not yet been attacked, that likely means that you are a minor or weaker demigod. At Camp Half-Blood, you will be taught how to fight, survive, and have fun with your demigod side," the voice went on about extracurricular activities and dining schedules, Dessa slowly tuned out.

At the end of the twenty minutes, she slinked back into the main room, where she found a centaur standing there, perspiring slightly, and holding a bow and arrow. Dessa raised one eyebrow. "Chiron," she said, one of the few names she remembered from the video.

"Hello," the centaur Chiron said. They looked awkwardly at each other for a second, each waiting for the other to speak, until Chiron's eyes moved slightly from her eyes to an area slightly above her head. Dessa's eyes followed his, finding an odd, shimmering image of sunrise floating above her head.

Dessa looked at Chiron and swapped brows. She had kept her right one up since she had entered the room, but changed to her left. Chiron could hear the unspoken question, "What just happened?"

Chiron gulped, sucked in a breath of air, and endeavored to explain. "I presume you've seen the orientation film?" Dessa nodded shyly. "You just got claimed by your godly parent. Judging by your sign, you got claimed by Eos, the goddess of dawn. Let me escort you to your cabin," Chiron said, bowing and offering Dessa his hand. She blushed and took it as he scooped her on his back.

They arrived at a long, low cabin, painted innumerable shades of oranges, yellows, and reds, intricately interwoven, like the most beautiful sunrise ever. Dessa grinned wide, and quietly opened the door.

Inside was painted a less intricate but no less beautiful sunrise, with bunk beds the color of the night sky and sheets in varying colors of the sun. Those bunk beds lined the two short walls, and the back wall was devoted to dressers, vanities, and the bathroom doors. The front door was almost on a corner, and the door's wall was bookshelves and desks. The entire room was natural, rounded, and full of the colors of dawn.

The room wasn't lived in- the beds were made and nothing was on the dressers. Dessa's stuff was delivered in a matter of minutes, while Dessa claimed a bed with sheets the same color as the walls, on top.

Jellybean was delivered wailing her lungs out until Dessa released her into the room. She set up the litter box and feeding area, and put Jellybean's blanket on the bottom bunk so the cat could sleep there. Dessa laid down on the top bunk, and gazed at the ceiling dotted with glistening stars. She could be very happy here.

**Like it? Hate it? Creative? Drop me a line, please!**

**xoxo,**

**bekeyboo ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 3: **

After Dessa had unpacked, a horn sounded, presumably for lunch. Dessa wandered over to where she knew the dining pavilion was. It was open, and Dessa liked it that way, with the air and sunshine coming in to warm everything up.

A late-twenties guy walked up to her. He had bright green eyes and black hair. Dessa had never seen him before, and stared. "Hey." The guy's voice was definitely the voice in that orientation video. "You're new- Eos' cabin, right?"

Remembering that Raya said she had to talk to people for them to like her, Dessa croaked out, "Um, hi. I'm Dessa."

The guy smiled. "Nervous? It's okay. This camp is impenetrable . Anyway, I'm Percy Jackson, the sword fighting teacher. Here's your schedule," Percy handed Dessa a sheet of paper, " And you sit at the minor gods table. " He pointed to an overstuffed table near the back of the pavilion.

Dessa nodded slowly and walked over to the table. At each place was a grilled cheese sandwich, a bowl of warm tomato soup, and some fresh fruit- grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries.

Dessa sat down at the end of a table, and ate her lunch quietly. Everything was delicious, but Dessa missed eating lunch with Raya like an ache in her side. During the school week, Raya and Dessa had eaten lunch together every day since kindergarten. Everyone had a glass of water as well, and Dessa almost cried when she realized that her best friend wasn't there to open her water bottle like they had done every day since third grade.

Everyone else at the table already had a best friend. There was about twenty kids crammed around the table, and there were a couple small groups of kids that looked alike. Some girls with flowing blonde hair and wide, sleepy blue eyes, some boys that had dark hair and dark eyes, but no one like Dessa, with her distinctive high cheekbones and button nose.

After eating a lonely lunch, Dessa went down to the fighting plain where the targets and sword fighting arena was, as her schedule told her to do. She dabbled in sword- work , but then a perfect blue-eyed boy started beating the instructor, and Dessa didn't want to humiliate herself, so she explored the rest of the weaponry there. A girl who looked exactly like the blue-eyed boy was twirling a spear like it was a baton, taking out a dummy with long, deep lashes. Wincing, Dessa kept walking, past a boy fistfighting, past his sister and a boy fighting with daggers, and stopping at the archery field, where the dagger boy's sister was practicing archery.

Archery had always interested Dessa, so she strolled over to investigate and watch. The girl shoved a sharpened, narrow stick into the center of the target, as well as a couple not centered. They were maybe an eighth of an inch thick, and the girl strolled a couple dozen yards away, nocked an arrow, and fired. Dessa looked at the target, and the stick in the center was cut clean down the middle. A minute later, each stick was cleaved cleanly in two.

Intimidated, Dessa went to another target, where knives were laid out on a table a couple yards away. Dessa picked one up, and it was weighted slightly by the handle. Dessa tried throwing it at the target.

It didn't hit center, but it was a good solid stick, embedded a couple inches into the target. Smiling, Dessa tried again, and the knife stuck deeper, but a little farther from the target.

"Hey," the girl Dessa had seen fighting with a long, wicked knife earlier was standing nearby. "I prefer stabbing, but I've dabbled in the throwing arts. I'm Ayra, daughter of Ares. Lemme show you."

Ayra picked up a knife and stood, holding the knife a little differently than Dessa did, and just as she was going to throw, the girl doing archery turned and said, "Hey, Ayra, thought you were more… stabby."

"Don't worry, Akilah! I'm not going to condescend to possibly pretend to have your godly skills!" Ayra retorted, heavy on sarcasm and spitting out the girl's name with all the contempt she could muster

The girl's liquid brown eyes burned. "Oh, I'm not worried, Ayra. You can't ever possibly get this good."

Ayra shook her head angrily, making her long auburn waves glint in the sunshine. As she prepared to throw again, Dessa was struck by how paradoxical Ayra was. She looked like a fairy, with ultra-pale skin, extra-wide eye, and slender, petite limbs. However, she was draped in black, oversize clothes and an angry fire burned in her eyes. She threw the knife, and it glinted while it spun in the air. It hurtled straight toward the target… prissy Akilah's target. It cleaved her arrow in two horizontally.

The two girls turned toward each other, Akilah with a pair of nocked arrows, and Ayra with a knife twelve inches long sliding out of her shirtsleeve. Dessa moved a target away and started practicing throwing knives.

By changing her stance and power agonizingly throughout the 2-hour block, she slowly inched closer to the center of the target. Her last throw of the day soared true, hitting the target dead center with a two-inch stick.

She was hot and sticky from standing in the sun, so she hit the showers before the conch shell sounded for dinner. Dessa tied her hair up in a bun, slapped on some clean clothes, and headed up to dinner.

It was delicious, grilled chicken, but all anyone could talk about was the Capture the Flag game. At the end of dinner, Percy came over and gave her a set of a dozen throwing knives, having been notified of her progress with them to arm her for Capture the Flag.

Dessa was pretty confused. Why would she need to be armed for Capture the Flag? She'd played before- there was really no violence. From eavesdropping shamelessly, Dessa figured out that it wasn't your typical random Capture the Flag game. It was a war, Ares versus Athena, with everyone getting picked for sides.

After dinner, everyone raced over to the woods to put on different plumes by team. No one had claimed Dessa, so she just decided to put on armor with a plumeless helmet and explore the woods. She was armed. She couldn't get hurt.

Half an hour of walking upstream, she heard a cry coming from the woods. It sounded like a dying bird of prey- a hawk or an eagle, maybe. Concerned, Dessa automatically turned toward the sound and started walking.

Every few minutes, it would cry again, and Dessa would run for a bit. After what felt like hours, Dessa stumbled upon a little cave. The cry sounded shrilly from inside the cave. It almost sounded like a baby bird. She walked inside.

She felt a small resistance on her left foot, and when she looked down, she saw she had broken a trip wire. She turned back to run, but there was a wall of fire blocking the way. Dessa curled up inside the little cave (it was almost just a sideways hole), and waited for someone to notice she was missing.

Someone realized surprisingly fast. Chiron came cantering out from the direction from which Dessa came. Once he came within a few dozen feet, the wall of fire vanished without a trace, not even a ring of ashes.

Dessa walked over to him and asked, "How did you find me so fast, Mr. Chiron?"

"I set the trap and asked Hephaestus to alert me when it was tripped," Chiron explained. He pulled her onto his back, murmuring, "No time to waste walking."

Within ten minutes, they were at the Big House. Dessa kept dwelling on a whisper that she could barely hear- "Is she one of the seven? Her? She's gonna stop Hades from usurping the throne?" She didn't know what would happen if the Lord of Death took over the world, but it couldn't be good.

Chiron led her into the Big House, where three boys and three girls were sitting around a Ping-Pong table. "Dessa," he said, "Meet Conrad, Bernadette, Kenji, Akilah, Ekon, and Ayra."

**Like it? Hate it? Creative? Please tell me.**

**xoxo,**

**bekeyboo ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter Four: The Flashback Chapter.**

Conrad, the boy Dessa saw sword fighting, and Bernadette, the girl twirling the spear, were a twin son and daughter of Zeus, both ebony-haired and big, blue-eyed. They both went to Forest Oak Middle School, where they were king and queen bee of their class. No one messed with them.

Conrad was born five minutes before his sister, and his life was blessed from the start. All the guys at school wanted to be him, and all the girls at his school wanted to date him. He was surrounded by ego-boosters all day, including his school cheerleaders, because he was the JV star quarterback for his school.

Bernadette was born with big ears (not literally) and a smirk on her face. She had thick, black hair, big blue eyes, and too much lip gloss. She was tricky, using every wile in her inventory to keep herself on top- fashion, popular boys, and secrets. Most of the girls in Forest Oak were afraid of her and what she would do to them if they dared cross her. So, her path to ultimate popularity was assured, especially with her popular older brother under her control.

"Hey, Elizabeth," Conrad said, sliding onto the cafeteria bench next to a pretty blonde.

She eyed him oddly. "My name is Jane."

He winked and clicked his tongue at her. "My bad," he said, curling his arm around her shoulders. She giggled and leaned in closer to him as he turned to his sister. "Wassup, sis?"

She smiled angelically and grabbed the hand of the blonde guy sitting next to her. "Nothing, just hanging out with Zane," she replied, twirling her arms around Zane's arm and cuddling into his shoulder. He smiled happily, like he was the luckiest guy on the planet. Bernadette turned to Jane and smirked. "How are you, Jane?" Bernadette inquired with overdone sweetness.

The color fled from Jane's face in a matter of seconds. "Um, Conrad, dear, um, I… um… I'll be right back." Jane rushed from the table almost faster than she spoke.

Bernadette's smirk turned into a grin. "Ew, Conrad, down-dating!" Bernadette exclaimed.

Conrad chomped some spearmint gum and said, "Eh. She's pretty. I don't care."

His sister giggled. "Conn, she's freaky-obsessed in love with you. She wrote on the girl's bathroom's stall," Bernadette had to pause and gasp for air overdramatically, "JS+CH 4ev! And then, on the back of her notebook, she wrote Jane Hendricks like, a hundred times."

With each word, the look of disgust on Conrad's face got more and more pronounced with each word his sister spoke. Bernadette smirked as Plain Jane Seymour sat back down next to her brother, Conrad Hendricks. Bernadette pulled Zane away from the table just as Conrad said, "Yeah, Jane? Um, go sit somewhere else. You're weird."

Bernadette chuckled to herself as Jane sobbed, "But we're so… and you're so… but… but…"

Before Bernadette and Zane had gotten too far, Conrad jogged up to them. "Hey, Detta, where you guys sitting? Ditched Jane and don't wanna sit alone."

Bernadette unraveled one of her arms from her dear Zane's to hold her brother's hand. "Come on, Conn. Let's find a place to sit."

They shunted some dorks out of their way and sat down. A group of his admiring fans congregated around Conrad, and he smirked. Bernadette ate her Cup O' Noodles and smiled. She was still queen of Forest Oak.

* * *

A guy named David was the Conrad of Albert Einstein Junior High, and he… well, he wasn't very smart. Kenji, the boy Dessa saw fighting with a dagger was, and, in fifth grade, a teacher assigned Kenji to tutor David through the last semester and summer school. David decided that, in his words, "You got stuff, kid, you got stuff." So, David decided to, in turn, teach Kenji how to be cool. Turned out Kenji was naturally a cool kid. Upon entering middle school, David was, of course, instantly popular, and Kenji was introduced as his right-hand man. Half to ¾ of the school's female sixth grade population fell in love with David at first sight, and the rest loved Kenji.

He had mocha skin, with big, serious brown eyes framed by thin silver wire glasses. His features were straight and chiseled, and the perfected normalcy of his features just added to his appeal. He kept his jet-black hair cropped short until David got to him. Then he slowly allowed it to grow out, into manga-esque bangs and hair falling down his neck.

Akilah, the girl kicking tail on the archery range, was thrilled that her brother was no longer holding her back. She became popular on her own; she didn't need a Bernadette who would only allow her to be second-best. Akilah's skin was a hint deeper than her brother's, and her black hair was her only pride and joy. She kept it sleek and glossy with a fortune's worth of hair product. It hung almost to her waist if allowed to fall straight and true, as Akilah permitted every so often. Usually, it was twisted and woven into braids or buns, with various bejeweled sticks holding everything in place.

Even in third grade, Akilah was aware of her beauty and the power of her eyes. She began to act aloof, better than anyone else. Slowly, they began to believe it, and Akilah started to believe it too. By the time she hit sixth grade, she had learned fashion, makeup, and that innate 'it' factor that she began self-teaching in third grade.

"Ye-e-eah, this is by buddy, Kenji. Yo! Kenji! Get over here!" David summoned the dark, studious Kenji over to the rejected girl. She immediately took to him, and Kenji was soon surrounded by David castoffs.

However, he looked at them disdainfully, and got out his book. He was Kenji, after all, and had a rep to uphold. The girls had to work to win his heart. While David hit it off was some blonde girl, Kenji read more philosophy.

"Hey, Kenji," a brunette said, anxiously shifting her weight from leg to leg, looking star-struck. He gave her a look over his silver glasses. She took this as an opportunity to move on. "I'm, like, Alyssa, and…" She broke off as Kenji's hard brown eyes shifted back to his book.

Alyssa pouted for a few seconds, and, when Kenji didn't look up, she wove an arm on his. "So, I was thinking of seeing that new movie, Middle School Musical? I was wondering…" Alyssa trailed off as Kenji walked away.

Half a school away, his sister, a year younger (who skipped kindergarten) didn't need to carve her rep. She was beautiful, intelligent, had all the diversions of being popular, and was famously bored of it all. She sat on the edge of the stage in the school cafeteria, listening to music on her iPod. A cluster of girls tried to ask her what she was listening to.

One redhead was being particularly persistent, so Akilah condescended to turn her head to glare at her. Her thick curtain of hair shimmered, and her lightly lined eyes hardened at the redhead. They scurried away.

A guy walked over to her with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "No," Akilah said without looking up.

He opened his mouth. "Scram," she spat, and the guy was smarter than to press the issue, and walked away empty-handed.

* * *

Ekon, the fistfighter, was a year older than Conrad, Kenji, and Bernadette. He carved out a reputation into Lost Knife Middle School as a guy you mess with if you want to lose a couple figures. He grew up in a hard neighborhood, taught the hard way of the eat-or-be-eaten side of the world. His cruel brown eyes were perpetually hard, and he cut his brown hair into a spiky buzz. He was tall and lean, with hard, skinny muscles. His front tooth was chipped from a fistfight.

He was infamous for his ferocious independence. One kid shut his locker for him once, and no one heard from him for two days, and, when he came back, he had a fat lip. From then on, no one touched Ekon's stuff, no one teased him about his name, and no one talked to him.

One year later, his younger sister came to school, yet more ferociously independent from her brother. Everything about Ayra, who was fighting Kenji with a knife, was misleading, from her name to her appearance. She was little and soft looking, with soft, wavy brown hair and wide, vulnerable brown eyes. Her delicate, naturally fair brows are only marred by a slender, pale scar stretching from two inches left of her lips to her hairline.

She was taken care of all her life- exposed to the eat-or-be-eaten world, but she was never allowed to participate in it because of her overprotective older brother. Her mom was always gone, but Ekon made sure she stayed home and did her homework. She dated a little, but her first ex Chris gave her the scar on her cheek, so the next guy who asked her out got a bruise on his cheekbone. And then another one in a much more painful place by Ayra's overprotective brother Ekon.

"Hey, Ayra!" Marcus called from down the alleyway. Ayra turned to see her boyfriend hurrying down the street to catch up to her. Knowing it was futile, she ducked her head and walked faster. He easily caught up to her and grabbed her arm too hard.

She shook it off. "Marc, I told you, I don't want to hang out today."

"Why not?" he asked just a little too quickly.

She wheeled on him. "You know what? Even if I wasn't just catching up on some dumb homework, it wouldn't be your business. You don't own me."

"Bet you're seeing another guy," Marc called as Ayra hustled down the alley.

Her eyes lit. She turned sharply on her heel and tried to get all up in his grill. Sadly, he was a lot taller than her, so it didn't really work. "I might be impulsive, angry, and whatever the hell all those other brats in the school call me, but I do not cheat!"

Then she made her fatal mistake- she swung her left fist at his head.

Almost instinctively, he pulled out a shiny silver knife. As she made a movement to knee him, he sliced it from her cheekbone to her temple.

Melting out of the shadows came her brother Ekon. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that," he threatened.

Ayra walked, humiliated, down the alley to the sounds of her brother giving her ex-boyfriend a nice pounding.

**Intrigued? Clichéd? (I don't want to hear about clichés from you, Sunshine.) Catch the historical reference? Drop me a line.**

**xoxo,**  
**bekeyboo ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 5- Back to the Action.

Recap: (Not into these, but it is necessary)_ Chiron led her into the Big House, where three boys and three girls were sitting around a Ping-Pong table. "Dessa," he said, "Meet Conrad, Bernadette, Kenji, Akilah, Ekon, and Ayra."_

Dessa waved shyly to the six kids. Conrad shot her a flirty wink, Bernadette scoffed, Kenji ignored her, Akilah turned up her nose, Ekon glared at her, and Ayra jerked her hand sideways in a hello.

More than ever, Dessa missed Raya, Raya who would have called Conrad a player, Bernadette a stuck up… well, Dessa didn't even like to think that word, and whatever else it took to make these six kids not matter in Dessa's head anymore.

"It is time," Chiron announced, "For all seven of you to hear the prophecy."

Bernadette stood up, smoothing her floral miniskirt over her butt. "I've already heard it, so I'm just gonna go." She started taking long, purposeful strides that made her kitten heels clack against the floor of the Ping-Pong room. Chiron stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"We're going to discuss it too, Bernadette." Bernadette glared at Chiron. He held her gaze. Fuming, she sat back down beside Conrad, on the edge of the table.

Chiron turned pointedly back to the seven sitting around the table, as Dessa had quietly sat herself down next to Ayra while Bernadette made her escape attempt. "Akilah? Would you like to read the prophecy?"

Akilah had been quietly buffing her nails as they spoke, and at this, she turned her head, brows furrowed into a glare. Chiron balked, and Akilah went back to her nails.

"Kenji?" Chiron offered the parchment to him. He accepted it.

It unfurled, and, as he shoved his glasses higher up on his nose, he read, "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, To storm or fire the world must fall, An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death." He almost sounded bored, even though what he was foretelling was ominous.

Chiron looked at them expectantly. He looked like he wanted them to share ideas and fears about this quest and start baring their souls and developing a strong and stout friendship to weather all hardships…

Dessa was too shy to talk, and she was easily the most likely to begin a conversation in this group. An awkward moment reigned for a few seconds, before Chiron spoke up.

"Well," he said, "Before I explain why you have been selected to go on this quest, I need you to swear to stand by each other and this quest, no matter what."

Bernadette looked up from her nails and said, "Of course, Chiron. Me and Connor'll do this, totally." She grinned, looking the very picture of an easygoing, sweet, and social girl. Dessa didn't trust her though, and plain didn't like her jerk of a jock brother.

Connor jerked his head upwards when his sister said his name. Then he went back to flirting with Akilah, being ignored, and chewing some gum. Dessa thought she smelled spearmint.

Kenji glanced up from some thick book he was reading and nodded briskly. He shot a quick glance at Akilah, who condescended to roll her eyes.

Sucking in a deep breath, she said, "Fine, I promise."

Dessa glanced at Ayra before saying, "Um… I promise that too."

Chiron was nodding. "Good, good. Ekon? Ayra?"

Ayra sighed and look up from her knife that she was polishing. One side of her mouth quirked up, and she nodded, making her beautiful curls catch the light.

The second she started nodding, Ekon said, "I'm going. Promise, whatever, can I leave now?"

Chiron looked mildly disappointed at the unenthusiastic response."Well, it's been a long night. Get some sleep, eat breakfast, pack, and then head out tomorrow."

Dessa, shocked at her own courage, asked, "Head out where?"

Chiron coughed. "Ah, yes. I forgot to explain the quest." Sure, Dessa thought. I don't believe that you forgot. "You'll be going to recover the sacred lot cards."

After a short pause to let this sink in, Chiron explained, "I presume you have heard the rumors of the Hades-Zeus war?" After the popular kids nodded, he continued. "You are here to quell those rumors. You must discover where the cards were hidden, as Apollo says it is against his vows to say, recover them, and send them to Olympus. Hades claims that Zeus never let him see his card, that he merely took the Underworld because Poseidon and Zeus took the sea and the sky. He claims that Zeus actually drew the Underworld and that his card that the Fates assigned was the Sky.

"You must recover these cards, because if Hades takes control of the universe, the results could potentially be disastrous."

The children looked at Chiron, horrified. Whatever it was that they were expecting, no one expected anything quite so awful.

Dessa was the first to leave.

There was just so much to deal with. It had been, in short, quite a long day. Dessa had come here expecting a simple camp full of therapy classes for her mental disorders, and had found an entirely different universe, fit into that universe, and was promptly asked to save said universe.

Then the thought occurred to her as she held her expectations next to what happened.

What if it was a hoax? What if this was a dyslexia/ ADHD camp? This quest could be some hidden therapy thing to kick-start her life here.

Almost the second this thought came into her head, she dismissed it. She had seen Chiron's… hindquarters and girls not much older than herself melting into trees.

But what if that was all fake? Or maybe Dessa had finally cracked and gone insane. Yes. That was it. She must be insane.

She realized that she had been dawdling outside her cabin as she ruminated over what had happened to her.

Shaking her head to clear it, Dessa walked inside and collapsed into a dreamless sleep.

At dawn the next day, Dessa woke and dressed quickly, climbing to the top of Half-Blood Hill, inside the safe zone, of course, just in case. She liked watching the sun rise, even if it wasn't as fun without Raya next to her.

She set up her camera to take some nice pictures. Dessa had an instinctive eye for graphic design elements in photography- rule of thirds, light, etc. She missed Raya asking her how she framed it.

Dessa needed to stop thinking about Raya and feeling so pitifully alone. She started sketching the woods- innocent enough. It looked awful, but what Dessa really remembered was the life teeming in the woods. She saw boys with hooves and hindquarters, girls with green skin that disappeared and reappeared, and horrific monsters grossly oversized and over-limbed.

Dessa internally slapped herself. How could she be so dumb as to think this was a hoax. This was real, real and the most interesting thing to ever happen to her. Every kid in Suburbia longed to be a part of something, anything important and bigger than their little lives. And now Dessa was. It was unbelievable.

A part of her still didn't believe it. But, for better or for worse, she was stuck in this fairytale, and she intended to find the ending.

What was she doing, photographing the sunset? She should be home- in her cabin, she internally corrected herself- packing for the big trip. She raced home, intending to tell Jellybean everything she innately understood she couldn't tell Raya. That startled her for a second, and she stood, shocked into stillness.

She had to keep this from Raya. She would have to disappear from her life today, and Raya couldn't know why. Dessa let out a choked, quiet sob in the silence of a still-dewy grass. She would keep a secret from Raya. Raya would detect it, as she tended to do, and Dessa would have to keep her mouth shut. Raya would get pushy, Dessa would get upset, and their friendship would end.

This situation became entirely different. Doing this, allowing them to tell her what to do, staying in her comfortable passiveness, would butcher her friendship. Was that friendship worth the world?

It was to Dessa.

But she had to think of the random little people living their lives who would be affected by this decision. She had to be strong. Maybe she would break the rules and tell Raya, maybe she would't, but she had to do this quest.

With a part of her deader than it had ever been, and a part of her more alive, Dessa walked back home, her camera in her hand.

**Sorry for the delay. Cliched? Realistic? Please, drop me a line.**

**xoxo,**  
**bekeyboo ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 6- Yes, I Updated

They set out that morning.

They had no idea where they were going. Conrad set out heading vaguely in the direction of New York City, Bernadette explaining that they were going to the Empire State to ask where the sacred lot- cards were. No one else seemed to like this idea- Kenji snorted when she explained it, and Akilah actually laughed.

"Do you have a better plan, Miss Know it All?" Bernadette snapped.

Akilah deigned to look at her, skeptical. When Bernadette kept looking at her expectantly, they entered a stare-down that almost seemed to have rounds. Neither girl backed down.

"Hey!" Ayra snapped, "Miss Barbie, Miss Too-Cool-To-Care, can we get a move on before Hades, oh, I don't know, takes over everything?"

Both of them snapped their necks toward Ayra. "Well?" she asked, extending the sound out for much longer than necessary. Bernadette flared her nostrils and said, "Fine!" and stomped off toward the city skyline.

The group slowly broke into little groups for chatting as they walked. Ayra found her way next to Dessa. "Wassup?" she asked, popping the p.

"I don't know. I feel like something bad's about to happen," Dessa said.

Ayra shrugged. "Well, it's a quest. Something bad is always about to happen."

"No, I don't mean like someday in the future, I mean like, now."

Ayra disregarded this warning too. "Dude, seriously. You're probably right. But we're all armed. There is literally seven of us. We could probably take down any threat."

Dessa allowed the conversation to fall into a tension-rich silence. The others seemed to know that something was up, too. Akilah slowly strung her bow and nocked an arrow, still having its point face the ground. Ayra and Conrad unsheathed their weaponry, and Dessa pulled out one of her throwing knives.

Something rustled in the bushes.

Everyone pointed some sharp edge at it.

A snake slithered out, baring its obviously-poisonous fangs at them. 'Snake' did not adequately describe it. Sure, it was roughly snake-sized, if you fed a cobra a cow a day for a week. There was just something about its frank, in-your-face, totally-not-afraid-of-all-you-noobs-with-pointy-things attitude that screamed demon.

Ekon sensed this and punched it.

He howled like he had been bitten, but his fist had only glanced off is enormous side. He screeched and hollered, and Dessa saw that the skin on his knuckles was rotting and peeling off his flesh. Akilah, not really wanting to fight anyway, started bandaging it with her daughter-of-Apollo skills.

Conrad somehow took all of this as a cue to heft his sword and charge. Thankfully, Dessa managed to just grab the back of his shirt before he dove on in. "Wait," she said, "If it can do that to Ekon, I hate to think of what it'll do to you for charging at it."

Apparently, his pair of brain cells agreed and he fell back.

The snake seemed to be examining them, as they in turn examined it. "I think I recognize it," Bernadette breathed, "From war stories. A basil-"

Once it heard its name begun, it turned and attacked.

Everyone went on defense mode, trying desperately not to touch it. Except Dessa, who used her knack of being invisible to hang on the fringes with Akilah and Ekon.

Everyone else had contact weapons, Dessa thought, except me and Akilah, who's not fighting, so… She took a throwing stance, hefted her weapon, and threw it at the thing.

It hit in on the tail, enough to distract it as to not attack Kenji. Useful, but not what she was going for. She needed to aim way farther forward than necessary.

She tried again, and a couple of total misses later, one sunk in true near its front, and it dissipated.

"What. Was. That." She asked as everyone turned to her in the post-battle silence with newfound respect.

Dessa hated that everyone was staring at her. Hated it, hated it, hated it. It was like she was supposed to be God or something just because she killed a gigantic freaky snake.

Bernadette shook her long black curls back into alignment as she said, "As I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted, it's a basilisc."

"That's Harry Potter, Bernadette. Stop stealing and tell us what it really is," Ayra said, her style not cramped at all by the big-freaky-snake attack.

Bernadette whirled on Ayra. "Oh, so you're Miss Smarty-Pants who knows the deets of everyone's quests? You know that basiliscs kill demigods for kicks? You know that their breath and skin is so deadly that the slightest contact kills you? Really?"

"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't, but never have I been talked to with so much sass," Ayra retorted.

Bernadette's big blue eyes widened as she said, "Well, maybe you should get out more."

"Hey," Akilah interrupted, "Maybe Black-head Barbie and Miss Social Reject could stop arguing for like five seconds so that Ekon doesn't, I don't know, die?"

That was the first time Dessa really heard her talk and react to anything. Somehow it seemed fitting that it was to sass everyone.

Kenji put one hand on her arm. They had a weird sibling stare down before they both turned away at the same time, Akilah's angry expression softened.

Wordlessly, Kenji began making camp. Dessa and Ayra immediately knelt to help him, Conrad following soon thereafter. They had a pair of tents, standard camp-issue, assorted spare weaponry, some bedrolls, nectar and ambrosia, spare sets of clothes, and other odds and ends. Soon the basilisc clearing was a sparse campsite.

The four of them who set up camp looked awkwardly at each other for a couple minutes before Ekon walked over, his hand heavily bandaged. Akilah took one look at the canteen of nectar before sighing, "Now I see nectar. Pour all my effin' energy into saving you and NECTAR was in the bags? Ugh."

Again without saying a word, Kenji took Ekon's hand, un-bandaged it, bathed it in nectar with some colorful language on Ekon's part, re-bandaged it, and broke off a little ambrosia for him.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence with all seven of them sitting around what would one day be a campfire. Clearing his throat gruffly, Ekon volunteered to go grab some firewood and kindling, Ayra shadowing him.

Akilah walked off a few minutes later, returning after another couple of minutes holding a rabbit out at arm's length. She dropped it into the firepit, still as-of-yet cold and uninviting, and sat back down with a shudder, cleaning rabbit blood off her arrow.

Glancing at the others, Dessa began skinning it (gross) and hacking it into cubes to roast (grosser).

Ekon and Ayra returned to a scene of incredible awkwardness, and inwardly reprieved themselves for being mildly surprised.

More than at any other time, all seven felt the supreme awkwardness that this quest was made of. There was three pairs of close siblings, each set kind of at truce with the others. Rivals, but at a truce. If it were only the six of them, it probably wouldn't have been so awkward.

Throw in a socially awkward loser that no one knew (Dessa) and the whole thing was just too much.

They managed to stumble through making dinner of cubed rabbit meat on big pointy sticks that Ekon sharpened without too much awkwardness.

Eventually, as the sun was setting on their first day of questing, they all dropped into the two tents- one of girls, one of boys- thankful that the day was over and desperately hoping that the next day would be better.

I'm really sorry for the super-long wait. Please review.

xoxo,

bekeyboo ;)


	7. Chapter 7

The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 7- Totally a Filler Chapter

The next morning was grey and dull. Akilah and Kenji immediately checked on Ekon's hand.

Dessa and Ayra started building a fire and finding breakfast. Ayra shot a squirrel (a little gamey, but tasted kind of like a chicken-y steak… but not a good one, like a prime rib, but like… a low-quality steak) and Dessa took a frying pan out of Ayra's knapsack.

"Why did you pack one of these, anyway?" Dessa asked conversationally.

Ayra shrugged. "I could beat someone with it… or I could use it to fry up some squirrel bacon. I knew we'd need to eat, numbskull."

Dessa held up her hands in surrender. "It's not a bad thing, Ayra. Just curious, is all."

The sizzling, crackling sound of the skinned squirrel on the fire apparently woke Connor, who gravitated toward the meat without second thought.

For Dessa, who had to skin, gut, cut, and bury the… entrails of the thing, Connor was welcome to the meat. Dessa might just go throw up in a hole instead.

Akilah and Kenji walked over with Ekon. "We need to stay here a day," said Akilah, who looked inexplicably as perfect as ever. She also sounded as bored with life as ever.

"Why?" Bernadette said, having just emerged from her cabin, stretching her arms and yawning..

Kenji whirled on her. "You heal poison that is supposed to kill someone in one session and make it easy for the victim to move the next day." His razor-sharp brown eyes challenged her.

They had the now-characteristic staredown that Bernadette seemed to use to exert authority over others. Kenji furrowed his brows at her before looking seriously back at the fried squirrel leg he had to eat. He managed to lose the staredown but still… win.

Bernadette, obviously sensing a loss and needing to reassert control, looked down into the frying pan with distaste. By now, the squirrel bacon was sizzling nicely in the pan, frying in its own squirrely grease. "What is that?" she demanded, looking around with her steel-hard eyes at everyone. Dessa shrank back.

Akilah said, sounding bored, "Squirrel."

"I'm a vegetarian," Bernadette explained.

Ayra snorted, "Not on a quest you're not."

Bernadette looked oh-so-adorably disgusted. "You can't expect me to eat this!"

Ayra laughed again. "Dessa had to freaking SKIN the thing and even she's eating something!"

It was true, Dessa had reluctantly taken a leg bone when her mouth watered traitorously at the smell of the frying meat. She had just taken a bite when Ayra spoke.

Oh, gods, she thought desperately, please tell me Ayra did not just drag me into this.

Bernadette whirled on Dessa. "That's disgusting. You handled a freaking dead squirrel? You're revolting."

Dessa internally panicked. This was where Raya swooped in to- no, she stopped herself from finishing the thought. There is no Raya here to protect her now. She was on her own.

And so she turned her back to Bernadette and ran into the woods, with some vague idea in mind of finding some sort of edible greens. Dessa wasn't super-excited about an all-meat diet either, but she did what she had to for survival.

But who was she kidding? She ran away to break down.

She was sick of these people, and it had barely been a day. They were all those people she hate, hate, hated back home.

Bernadette and Conrad were the couple that were in every single one of her classes and were still totally and completely ignorant of her existence; Akilah was the bitch who trashed Dessa behind her back every chance she got; Kenji was the magnet kid who thought he was better than everyone else simply because he went to special classes; Ekon was the guy who slammed her into a wall her first day of school; and Ayra…

Ayra was the girl whose friends thought she was awesome and everyone else thought was a total meanie, the girl who said what she was thinking with a total disregard to tact.

What was it with Dessa and making friends with people who had absolutely no tact when she had way too much?

But being around them was killing her slowly, like basilisc venom rotting her from inside out. No matter what she did, how social (or not) she was, she would never really fit in with them. Each pair was totally wrapped up in themselves and their various feuds with others.

Why was it, that no matter where she went, Dessa was alone?

Dessa silently told herself to get over it. She rooted around for a couple minutes in the dirt, letting her red, puffy eyes go back to normal, letting her breathing become regular again.

Dessa had the good luck to come across a cucumber plant (definitely NOT in someone's garden) and plucked it of its fruits to bring back to camp for herself and Bernadette.

When she got back, everyone was talking in their little pairs except Ekon and Ayra. Ekon was flexing his hand, trying to determine the extent of his injury while guarding his sister. Ayra was polishing her bronze knife, sharpening it against a whetstone.

Dessa didn't speak, just got out one of her little knives on a holster up her arm it took her a full five minutes to figure out and began slicing cucumber. Three of them she kept whole, to eat later, but the last two she fried in slices on the cleaned frying pan. Once the slices were done (read- warm and crispy), she came around to Bernadette and wordlessly offered her the pan.

Bernadette took a couple slices with a murmured, "Thanks," and went back to whatever she was talking about with Conrad. Dessa made the rounds with her cucumber slices, and everyone took some except Ekon, who was still tearing into a leg of squirrel.

**I realized that I need a disclaimer: I'm disregarding The Lost Hero totally, and I'm blatantly using Rick Riordan's Great Prophecy II for my fanfic. It never struck me as 'Great Prophecy' material in TLO. **

**That being said, how was this chapter? R&R, please.**

**xoxo,  
bekeyboo ;)**


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